Rights of casual workers bolstered by waitress's legal victory

A waitress's legal win has strengthened the rights of thousands of workers who are labelled casuals, but who are effectively permanent part-time staff.

Balmain student Yasemin Cetin this week won the right to take an unfair dismissal case against her hotel employer in a ruling that dealt a blow to bosses who classify staff as casuals to avoid the obligations that come with permanent work.

The case of Ms Cetin, who worked at the Park View Hotel in Alexandria for eight months until March, tested the meaning of casual employment under federal workplace regulations.

Ms Cetin argued that she was not, in effect, a casual because she worked the same four shifts each week for the last four months in which she was employed at the hotel.

While she was paid a casual loading in lieu of sick leave, annual leave and public holidays, she was expected to turn up for work every week for those four shifts and was obliged to give notice if she could not work.

In its judgement handed down on Thursday, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission's full bench said Ms Cetin was not, in reality, a casual employee and should not be excluded from taking an unfair dismissal case.

It found that an employee's hours and expectation of continuing employment should be taken into account in determining if someone was a "casual", rather than simply relying on the employment classification. "Her employment was regular and systematic, and would have given rise to a reasonable expectation of continuing employment," it said.

Ms Cetin's barrister, Claire Howell, who conducted the case on a pro bono basis, said the victory would allow other casuals in similar situations to take action over unfair dismissals.

"It isn't enough now for an employer simply to classify someone as a casual to exclude them from the right to take an unfair dismissal claim," Ms Howell said.

"There's a lot of long-term casuals. They might have been there for 10 months in a steady job with steady hours, but because they were called a casual they were excluded."

Ms Cetin said casuals were often exploited by bosses. "We get treated like we don't have any other things going on in our lives, like we are on call," she said.

"If we don't take [shifts], there's a risk we will lose our jobs."

Ms Cetin's case now goes to conciliation, and she says she will donate half of any compensation she may be awarded to the UNSW's Kingsford Legal Centre, which took her case.